It is a common practice in Midwestern United States crop production to use minimum tillage or no-tillage practices that leave crop residue in the field. As a result, row cleaner wheels are commonly used planters. The row cleaner wheels clear previous crop residue and soil clods from the row unit's path to remove stubble and clear the ground. This provides a more uniform environment for placing seed in the soil and clears residue from the immediate area surrounding the seed to facilitate warming of the soil and reduce the likelihood of disease and fungi interference with the emerging seedling.
Most row cleaner wheels are configured to clear a path as wide as the row unit gauge wheels. Row cleaner wheels used in tilled soil struggle to enough traction to keep the wheels turning. Floating row cleaner wheels are often used in combination with treader wheels to gauge depth and provide extra traction to keep the cleaner wheels turning. When planting in tilled cornstalks, root balls and stalks can easily become caught in front of the row cleaner wheels and stop rotation of the wheels. The row unit then starts to push a pile of residue and soil. It only takes a few seconds for the pile to become large enough to impact the rows on either side of the plugged row. The planter must be stopped and raised and moved over the pile to clear the pile. If the operator doesn't want to leave an unplanted gap in the field, the pile of residue and soil must be manually moved aside rather than raising the planter to move over the pile. This is time consuming and reduces the planting efficiency.